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Finding joy in this ordinary, imperfect life

Monthly Archives: June 2014

The high school was going to resurface the track, so the coach told the runners they could take a piece home with them if they wanted. Most of the kids tore off a piece of the track the size of your hand. My son? Let’s try a whole number! (I admit it’s waayyyy better than just a small piece.)This forty pound piece of rubber laid in my driveway, for like the last nine months. I knew I wanted to get it up, but was a little intimidated by its size. So one hot, and I mean 100 degrees hot day, I had a bee in my bonnet to get. it. done!

After nine months weeds started growing.

The underside wasn’t looking so great either, so I washed both sides down with the hose.

I decided to use the boards from a pallet. I’ve never taken one apart before, so this turned into a project of errors lessons. Prying the boards up did not work.

So let’s start sawing! This was not working. (Duh! Wrong type of saw Mar!)

Much easier! There were still the middle nails I had to deal with.

So I went back to the proper saw and sliced right through those babies.

Found the studs and screwed the boards in, hoping to provide enough surface area to attach the number to. As you can see, after attaching the boards I applied Liquid Nails.

Next, called in the big guns to lift the piece onto the wall, while Superman placed about 30 screws throughout.

Superman was never very confident that this crazy idea of mine would work, so my confidence was a little shaky. I, originally, wanted to put it in our fun basement, but then I thought that if I were to totally mess the project up, it would be better to mess up the garage.

I don’t know….but I’m thinking I need to trust myself more often. This is pretty cool!

Like this:

Mary Claire is a Communications Major and for their Capstone project, they developed, organized and put on “Pitch It to Win It” for The Harbor Entrepreneur Center. Not only did it sound like it was going to be a whole lot of fun, it was my girl’s big project, so I wanted to be there for her. I asked one sister to join me but she couldn’t get off work. (So responsible.) I asked a friend, but she would be in Florida with her family. (Come on, it’s only like an 8 hour drive for the evening.) I asked another friend, but she had just gotten off the road from driving like 10 hours. (She could’ve slept in the back seat.) I even asked my 84 year old mother, and she rejected me too! (Something about strange men, air conditioning guys, in her home all day.)

Ok! Alright! I’ll have to do this little spontaneous adventure all by myself.

I drove to Charleston, picked up my girl and we immediately headed to the site, The Holy City Brewing Company, to set up for the event.

The team worked well to get everything set up and ready. The premise of the event is much like the tv show Shark Tank. The Harbor Entrepreneur Center is a non-profit organization that offers space, knowledge and support for up and coming businesses. So this event showcased 5, (although only 4 showed up), new business ideas, which were pitched to the audience and then voted on. The winner received a free month at the center.

While the crew was busy setting up, I did a little look-see around the place. On one side of this big warehouse building were the beer vats and on the other side was the bar.

At a winery you’ll see rows of grape vines. At a brewery, you’ll see trailers full of hops!

At a winery, one would do a little taste testing, so of course I needed to do the same here! I’m not a big fan of the heavy dark beers so I asked for some lighter ones. I liked them all except the third from the left. He says “It tastes different.” I say it tasted like a sweaty gym shoe. To each his own.

Because there was going to be a big moving day at the office, Superman and the boys were not able to come, but that didn’t mean I was forgetting about them! I bought them each a t-shirt from the brewery.

The Auto Bahn- Vietnamese Food Truck arrived just in time to feed these hungry workers.

This father/son team pitched their app idea that would help the hotel industry by locating immediate substitutes when an employee wouldn’t be able to show for their shift.

This guy described his new emotion icon app that would be used to describe ones experience with a business.

This guy, also, had an app idea that would go beyond which restaurants are near you. This app would direct you to where the locals eat, where the chefs in town go to eat, where the bartenders like to get a drink.

This young girl, only a year out of college, pitched her sunscreen applicator, BlokRok. It applies sunscreen, or actually any lotion, in a fun, Eco-friendly and mess free way.

AND THE WINNER IS…. drum roll please…..

Arianna and her BlokRok!!

I was very happy for her. Seeing a sweet, young girl, invent AND patent a product, go up against seasoned business men and beat them, was cool. Seriously, go check it out on Facebook. I know BlokRok would be tickled pink if you “liked” her product!

Mary Claire’s team was recognized and thanked for their fabulous event. I know these kids learned so much from this experience. I was really proud of them.

After breaking everything down and packing things away, it was time to go home. I was privileged to be able to sleep at my girl’s apartment. Ahhh…the memories of living in my first apartment….